March 21, 2007

Retroflex flap

A retroflex flap is a consonant sound in some languages, including the dialect of Norwegian that is my native tongue. It's difficult to describe, but you take an ordinary 'l', curl your tongue back a little and then you "flap" it. This adds a bit of body to the l, which is why it's called a "thick l" in Norwegian, and it also adds a more or less pronounced clicky sound. Like in Xhosa, only different.

It's considered vulgar by the kind of people who dub other people's dialects vulgar and you can read lots about it on wikipedia.